Best credit cards in Canada

No. At around 20% interest, carrying a balance costs far more than any rewards card earns: a 2% return against a 20% cost. If you are carrying debt, clearing it is worth roughly ten times more than optimizing rewards.

It can, but only against your actual spending. A $120 fee needs about $6,000 of annual spending at a 2% advantage over a no-fee card just to break even. Run your own numbers through the card finder rather than trusting a headline earn rate.

Often yes. Visa Infinite and World Elite Mastercard products carry income requirements set by the network, commonly $60,000 personal or $100,000 household for Infinite. Those are requirements to hold the tier, not guidance, and issuers do check.

Each application creates a hard inquiry, which typically costs a few points and fades within a year. The larger factor is credit utilization, meaning the share of your available limit you are using. A new card can actually help utilization by raising your total limit.